It's getting hot but I bought some new goodies.

Hi all, another few busy days as we organize Christmas and my son turns 10 this weekend too. 

It's getting very hot here, I have to be aware of my cat being left in the caravan for too long in the heat. So far it's been okay as by late morning the sun goes round far enough that we are shaded for the rest of the day, but tomorrow and Saturday it's going to get really hot so if I need to go into town I will have to make the trip short.

I bought a really cool esky yesterday, for those who don't know what an esky is, it's an ice box to keep foods cold in. I only have a little fridge in the caravan that's gas and electric, so when we move the caravan it goes off once you hitch up. I've only ever used it on electricity and wouldn't have a clue how to start it on gas, it doesn't really matter though as you're not allowed to have a fridge on gas whilst you're travelling anyway.

The esky is large enough to take a fair bit of food without being to big to store comfortably in the caravan while we are on the move, and it will fit perfectly under the table. It has wheels and a pull-out handle so you can wheel it along and not have to carry it. Ice and food can be very heavy.

I also bought a little lantern today too, it only cost $6.95 at the camping store but will be ideal to put on the table in the caravan if we decide to free-camp somewhere or do a sleep-over on the side of the road one night.

It's a kids lantern that takes 3 pencil batteries but will do the job and not be a pain to store when not in use. We have very limited space now and everything MUST have it's use or we can't keep it.

If we were to free-camp we would have no power and I'm not connected up to 12 volt yet either. We have a water tank under the caravan which I currently fill twice a week, but that's without watching our water usage. I would also take a few containers of water in the back of the car for hand washing, cooking, bathing, drinking etc.

I have a gas cooker in the caravan that we could also heat water on to do dishes and have a bucket wash, plus we have a porta potty for our toilet.

It would be rough but I think it would also be a good learning experience for us all, no screens would be my favorite thing!! I'm not anti tv but a break would be nice.

We spent the day fishing on Sunday, well the boys fished and I sat and did drawing in the car nearby enjoying the view. We tried many spots around the area, but only one small fish which they threw back after a quick photo.

 

 

 

I'm still Arting

A few months ago I joined in Shannon Green's 'Journaling by Fives,' and what a great fun experience it was.

I haven't finished the pages yet, I still have the doodling stage to do. The photos aren't the best but at least you will get an idea of what we did.

The idea is to do 20 pages in 15 minutes with one or two mediums at a time. This takes away the stress to think about it too much and just get on with having fun. I really enjoyed it too.

Back in Paradise

Hi all, I can't believe how much time has gone by, it's almost Christmas!!

Well I still haven't found my caravan yet BUT I downsized from my 30 ft caravan to my little 15 ft Chesney caravan. She's a 1978 old girl with a full annexe and very comfy.

We spent the winter up in the bush and it was HARD!! For the first time we battled flooding rains that went on for days and turned the annexe into a deep, sticky, stinky mud pit. Because we had so much rain the ground never seemed to dry out and the dampness came up and into the caravan. For the first time I had issues with mould. OMG it was revolting! Between the mud, the mould and the dirty amenities where we stayed I nearly went around the bend.

BUT we survived and now we are in summer again.

We are back down in Lakes Entrance where we have stayed before, I love this place, we have our own little beach that's perfect for swimming and fishing and just relaxing and watching the views or the sunsets. We've been back here 3 weeks now.

I have my towing car, an 80 series Landcruiser, and we have downsized enough to fit in the Chesney with just a little more sorting to do to make life more comfortable.

I'm letting my food stocks run down and will not replace the backup food. As my art paints in the tubes run out I will not replace them, the little bottles are smaller and lighter and I have plenty of those.

We put the big caravan in storage and that will stay there for the time being. We will be here in paradise until the 27th December and then our next adventure begins. As of Christmas the whole town is booked out and all the nightly rates go way up for the tourist season. We will move on.

My oldest son has finished special school, he had his graduation this week and it was a wonderful night with lots of laughs and tears. Who knows where our future leads now.....